UNUM  CORPUS  SUMUS  IN  CHRISTO. 


THE 


AN  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  TUB 

GENERAL  CHRISTIAN  CONFERENCE, 

UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  AND  DIRECTION  OF  THE 

EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE  FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

IN  VVASHNGTON,  D.  C., 
DECEMBER  8,  1887, 


BY 

REV,  JANIES  NX.  KING,  D.D. 


CLARIFICATION 


I.  Historical. 

II.  We  are  a Christian  Nation. 

III.  Distinctive  Christian  Ideas. 

IV.  Voluntary  Support  of  Christian  Institutions. 

V. '  Higher  Education. 

VI.  The  Common  Schools. 

VII.  The  Christian  Sabbath  as  a Civil  Institution. 

VIII.  Financial  and  Material. 

IX.  Numerical  Evangelical  Strength. 

X.  Roman  Catholicism. 

XI.  Missions. 

XII.  Utilized  Energies  of  Womanhood. 

XIII.  Race. 

XIV.  Freedom  of  the  Press. 

XV.  Latent  Powers. 

XVI.  Divine  Promises. 

XVII.  The  Power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


[Within  the  prescribed  limits  of  a paper  oil  this  occasion  we  can 
only  give  the  points  of  a discussion,  without  any 
considerable  elaboration.') 


THE 


OUR  COUNTRY. 


I.  Historical. 

The  Christian  resources  of  our  country  rightfully  claim  all 
there  is  of  Christ  and  the  Bible  in  our  history,  government, 
laws,  institutions,  homes,  and  hearts.  And  this  embraces  all 
that  gives  permanency  to  justice  and  efficacy  to  mercy  and 
dignity  to  man  and  glory  to  God.  We  liave  the  cumulative 
resources  of  the  education  and  Christian  teaching  of  the  near 
as  well  as  of  the  remote  past  We  are  the  heirs  of  modern 
as  well  as  of  ancient  history.  We  have  the  powers  at  our  dis- 
posal to  dictate  what  the  immediate  and,  with  that,  what  the 
remote  future  of  our  country  shall  be. 

When  De  Tocqueville,  some  fifty  years  since,  returned  to 
France  and  reported  in  permanent  form  the  results  of  his  wise 
and  philosophic  study  of  our  institutions,  he  said:  “Although 
the  travelers  who  have  visited  North  America  differ  on  many 
points,  they  all  agree  in  remarking  that  morals  are  far  more 
striet  there  than  elsewhere.  It  is  evident  that,  on  this  point, 
the  Americans  are  very  superior  to  their  progenitors,  the 
English.” 

This  same  political  philosopher  said:  “The  new  States 
must  be  religious  in  order  to  be  free.  Society  must  be  de- 
stroyed unless  the  Christian  moral  tie  be  strengthened  in  pro- 
portion as  the  political  tie  is  relaxed  ; and  what  can  be  done 
with  a people  who  are  their  own  masters  if  they  be  not  sub- 
missive to  Deity  ? It  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  the  United 
States  the  instruction  of  the  people  powerfully  contributes  to 


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the  support  of  the  democratic  Republic  ; and  such  must  always 
be  the  case,  I believe,  where  the  instruction  which  enlightens 
the  understanding  is  not  separated  from  the  moral  education 
which  amends  the  heart. 

“The  sects  which  exist  in  the  United  States  are  innumerable. 
They  all  differ  in  respect  to  the  worship  which  is  due  to  the 
Creator;  but  they  all  agree  in  respect  to  the  duties  which  are 
due  from  man  to  man.  Christian  morality  is  every-where  the 
same.  Christianity,  by  regulating  domestic  life,  regulates  the 
State.  Every  principle  of  the  moral  world  is  fixed  and 
determinate.  Religious  zeal  is  warmed  by  the  fires  of  patri- 
otism. 

“The  greatest  part  of  British  America  was  peopled  by  men 
who,  after  having  shaken  off  the  authority  of  the  pope,  ac- 
knowledged no  other  religious  supremacy.  They  brought 
with  them  into  the  New  World  a form  of  Christianity  which 
I cannot  better  describe  than  by  styling  it  a democratic  and 
republican  religion.  This  contributed  powerfully  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a republic  and  a democracy  in  public  affairs;  and, 
from  the  beginning,  politics  and  religion  contracted  an  alliance 
which  has  never  been  dissolved.” 

These  utterances,  as  intelligent  citizens,  we  do  well  to  med- 
itate. Refugees  from  civil  and  religious  persecutions  founded 
the  nation,  and  the  legitimate  offspring  of  such  a parentage 
was  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Almost  every  thing  worth 
possessing  in  our  institutions  was  secured  for  us  by  our 
Christian  ancestors.  Let  us  hesitate  before  we  surrender  the 
fortresses  that  are  the  foundations  and  defense  of  our  insti- 
tutions. 

The  State,  under  our  form  of  government,  historically  and  in 
fact,  has  to  recognize  Christian  morality  as  the  basisof  its  own 
existence. 

And,  therefore,  while  it  exists  for  secular  and  civil  pur- 
poses, finds  itself  substantially  the  creature  of  Christianity; 
and  whenever  it  has  found  itself  engaged  in  a struggle  for  its 
• defense  or  existence  it  has  never  issued  from  the  struggle 
until  it  has  adopted  for  its  war-cry  some  principle  that  has  had 
its  birth  in  Christian  morality.  Professor  Atwater,  of  Prince- 
ton, has  said:  “Morality  enters  into  the  very  being  of  the 
State  as  the  impelling  and  final  cause  of  its  formation.  Its 


o 


very  end  is  to  promote  tlie  prevalence  of  justice  by  self-im- 
posed laws,  imposed  in  tlie  exercise  of  its  own  tree  activ- 
ity l»y  its  own  constituted  authorities,  and  not  by  any  alien 
power.” 

Church  and  State  co-exist  in  this  land,  but  they  are  not 
wedded.  They  have  their  individual  work  to  perform.  The 
secular  interests  are  guarded  and  promoted  by  the  State  ; the 
moral  and  religious  interests  by  the  Church.  And  yet  so 
closely  are  they  related  to  each  other  that  the  State  depends 
for  its  existence  upon  the  character  given  its  citizenship  by 
the  Church,  and  the  Church  in  turn  receives  protection  from 
the  State  for  its  property  and  from  interference  with  its  wor- 
ship and  instruction.  Our  experiment  has  proved  that  re- 
ligious freedom  is  the  best  friend  of  genuine  Christianity,  and 
that  it  is  also  the  best  foundation  for  a “government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people.’'  The  voluntary 
principle  is  here  the  aggressive  energy  of  Christianity.  While 
we  have  no  established  national  Church,  with  obligatory  mem- 
bership, and  no  taxation  for  the  support  and  promulgation  of 
any  creed,  and  while  citizenship  and  political  rights  are  inde- 
pendent of  Church  membership,  we  are  not  a nation  without 
religion.  The  union  of  Church  and  State  is  a different  ques- 
tion from  the  union  of  religion  and  the  State.  Union  in  both 
of  these  cases  is  possible,  but  separation  of  religion  from  the 
State  is  impossible.  A learned  law  writer  has  said,  “ Those 
things  which  are  not  lawful  under  any  of  the  American  con- 
stitutions may  be  stated  thus:  1.  Any  law  respecting  an  es- 

tablishment of  religion.  2.  Compulsory  support,  by  taxation 
or  otherwise,  of  religious  instruction.  3.  Compulsory  attend- 
ance upon  religious  worship.  4.  Restraints  upon  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  religion  according  to  the  dictates  of  the  conscience. 
5.  Restraints  upon  the  expression  of  religious  belief.”  It  is 
not  toleration  which  is  established  in  our  system,  but.  religious 
equality.  We  accept  this  summary  when  construed  in  the  light 
of  our  history. 

II.  We  Are  a Christian  Nation. 

Every  government  necessarily  has  some  form  of  religion 
recognized  in  its  state  institutions,  and  is  molded  by  its 
power.  Historically  we  are  a Christian  nation.  The  divine 


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authority  of  the  Bible  is  certainly  taken  for  granted  in  the 
very  make-up  of  our  government.  Every  officer,  from  the 
President  down  to  the  lowest  official,  is  inducted  into  office 
under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath  on  that  volume.  The  Chris- 
tian religion  and  the  morality  that  it  teaches,  in  one  way  or 
another,  permeate  all  our  institutions.  Every  thing  in  our 
political  system  indicates  the  recognition  of  the  principle  that 
the  Bible  is  the  common  standard  of  right  and  wrong  in 
morals.  In  all  the  evidences  of  the  prevalence  of  relfgion  in 
a nation  we  present  an  array  most  formidable.  Look  upon 
our  Christian  churches  and  Sabbath-schools;  upon  our  col- 
leges and  seminaries  of  Christian  learning;  upon  the  distribu- 
tion and  study  0/  the  Bible,  upon  the  sacredness  of  the  Sab- 
bath ; upon  the  unstinted  beneficence  and  multiform  charities — 
almost  all  the  overflow  of  Christian  love.  Government  requires 
the  Christian  oath  as  the  standard  both  for  entering  upon 
the  duties  of  citizenship  and  office-holding.  American  jurispru- 
dence, as  well  as  English  common  law,  rejects  the  testimony 
of  atheists,  because  an  oath  has  no  meaning,  no  sanction,  in  the 
mouth  of  one  who  does  not  believe  in  a just  God  and  a future 
retribution.  Government  appoints  days  of  thanksgiving,  fast- 
ing, and  prayer.  The  Congress  of  the  nation  and  the  army 
and  navy  have  their  chaplains,  with  the  salaries  paid  from 
the  national  treasury.  States  exempt  church  property  from 
taxation  and  employ  the  ministers  of  religion  in  all  their  penal, 
reformatory,  and  beneficent  institutions.  The  State  punishes 
offenses  against  God  and  religion,  such  as  Sabbath-breaking, 
blashphemy,  perjury,  sacrilege,  religions  imposture,  and  viola- 
tion of  burial  places. 

Now,  legislation  is  the  expression  of  human  sentiment,  and 
it  would  seem  to  be  the  shallowest  kind  of  pettifogging  to 
claim  that  the  legislation  in  these  directions  of  a Christian 
people  was  dictated  by  a desire  simply  to  lessen  human  evils 
regardless  of  the  fear  and  favor  of  God,  whose  expressed  will 
taught  man  that  they  were  not  only  evils  but  sins.  Dr. 
Woolsey,  in  noticing  the  legislation  in  these  directions, 
savs : “ On  the  whole,  while  laws  against  irreligious  acts 
notice  them  in  part  on  account  of  their  human  evils,  I cannot 
help  finding  in  them  another  element,  proceeding  from  relig- 
ious feelings  themselves,  from  reverence  for  the  divine  Being, 


7 


irrespective  of  their  injury  to  human  society.  Man,  in  his 
legislation,  cannot  get  rid  of  his  sentiments;  even  in  the  later 
attempts  at  legislation,  when  the  limits  are  more  exactly 
drawn  between  that  which  il  injurious  to  society  in  some  spe- 
cific way  and  that  which  is  sinful,  the  sentiment  will  assert  its 
right  in  defining  crime  or  enhancing  punishment.” 

Christianity  constitutes  the  most  important  part  of  the 
common  law  of  the  land.  It  is  the  strength  of  the  law  be- 
cause it  is  intrenched  in  the  sentiments  and  affections  of  the 
people. 

President  Dwight,  of  the  Columbia  College  Law  School, 
has  recently  written  : “ It  is  well  settled  by  decisions  in  the 
courts  of  the  leading  States  of  the  Union  that  Christianity  is  a 
part  of  the  common  law  of  the  State.  Its  recognition  is  shown 
in  the  administration  of  oaths  in  the  courts  of  justice,  in  the 
rules  which  punish  those  who  willfully  blaspheme,  in  the 
observance  of  Sunday,  in  the  prohibition  of  profanity,  in  the 
legal  establishment  of  permanent  charitable  trusts,  and  in  the 
legal  principles  which  control  a parent  in  the  education  and 
training  of  his  children.  One  of  the  American  courts  states 
the  law  in  this  manner:  ‘Christianity  is  and  always  has  been 
a part  of  the  common  law  of  this  State.  Christianity  without 
the  spiritual  artillery  of  European  countries — not  Christianity 
founded  on  any  particular  tenets — not  Christianity  with  an 
established  Church  and  titles  and  spiritual  courts,  but  Chris- 
tianity with  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  men.’ 

“ The  American  States  adopted  these  principles  from  the 
common  law  of  England,  rejecting  such  portions  of  the  English 
law  on  this  subject  as  were  not  suited  to  their  customs  and 
institutions.  Our  national  development  has  in  it  the  best  and 
purest  elements  of  historic  Christianity  as  related  to  the 
government  of  States.  Should  we  tear  Christianity  out  of  our 
law  we  would  rob  our  law  of  its  fairest  jewels,  we  would 
deprive  it  of  its  richest  treasures,  we  would  arrest  its  growth,  and 
bereave  it  of  its  capacity  to  adapt  itself  to  the  progress  in  cult- 
ure, refinement,  and  morality  of  those  for  whose  benefit  it 
properly  exists.” 

Goldwin  Smith  says : “Not  democracy  in  America,  but 
free  Christianity  in  America,  is  the  real  key  to  the  study  of 
the  people  and  their  institutions.” 


8 


III.  Distinctive  Christian  Ideas. 

The  distinctive  Christian  ideas  and  teachings  of  the  Word  of 
God  belong  to  our  invoice  ; individual  liberty  and  the  increased 
value  set  upon  human  life,  honor  to  womanhood,  and  her  eleva- 
tion and  emancipation,  and  the  consequent  elevation  of  man  as 
this  is  recognized.  From  the  moral  necessities  of  the  case  the 
benevolence  of  the  country  is  in  Christian  hands,  or  the  off- 
spring of  Christian  thought.  Only  Christianity  is  benevolent. 
Modern  legal  beneficence  had  its  birth  in  Christ.  The  con- 
nection is  inseparable  between  the  Christian  Church  and  all 
those  institutions  which  have  the  relief  of  human  wants  and 
the  promotion  of  human  well-being  for  their  object.  The  spirit 
of  Christian  love  foresaw  that  there  would  be  permanent  liabil- 
ities to  suffering  and  want  in  this  changeful  and  uncertain  world 
of  ours,  which  no  extemporaneous  charity  could  adequately 
;meet.  And  this  foresight  has  gladdened  many  a sad  and  weary 
heart,  in  spite  of  the  abuses  which  human  ignorance  and  indo- 
lence have  permitted.  Hence,  out  of  Christian  faith  have 
arisen  all  over  the  land  the  institutions  for  the  relief  of  sin- 
cursed  and  ignorance-cursed  humanity.  It  is  this  power  work- 
ing with  us  “with  a force  unchanged  and  unwasting,  upon 
which  democratic  institutions  are  based,  with  educational,  phil- 
anthropic and  missionary  enterprise.  The  hospitals  for  the 
sick,  the  asylums  for  the  aged,  the  homeless  and  the  orphan  ; 
the  consecrated  ministry  of  skill  and  genius  to  the  blind  and 
the  deaf,  as  the  fruit  of  which  the  blind  become  readers  by  their 
fingers,  while  the  old  miracle  of  the  Lord  seems  repeated  as 
the  dumb  are  taught  to  articulate;  the  ministry  to  the  insane 
and  the  imbecile,  and  which  has  been  carried  in  our  time  to 
such  superb  consummation  ; the  ministry  to  even  the  criminal 
classes,  who  might  seem  severed  by  their  offenses  from  further 
claim  upon  society,  but  for  whom  the  plans  of  prison  reform 
are  incessantly  at  work” — all  these  illustrate  the  exhaustless 
Christian  resources  born  of  the  new  conception  of  man’s  duty 
to  man. 

Dr.  Storrs  writes:  “ In  Virgil’s  fourth  eclogue,  written,  per- 
haps, forty  years  before  Christ,  he  hails  with  song  the  birth  of 
a child  who  is  to  restore  the  Golden  Age.  His  figures  seem 
caught  from  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah.  The  boy  of  whom  Virgil 


9 


is  supposed  to  have  written  was  imprisoned  by  Tiberius,  and 
starved  to  death  in  his  solitary  dungeon.  The  child  of  whom 
Isaiah  wrote  now  leads,  in  triumph  toward  unreached  ages,  the 
aspiring  and  hopeful  civilization  of  the  world.  In  1 1 is  name 
is  the  hope  of  mankind.  In  the  sign  of  his  cross  Christendom 
conquers.” 

This  Christianity  “has  shown  in  itself  the  power  to  reconcile, 
to  liberate,  and  to. set  forward  nations,  with  a steadiness  and  a 
strength  which  had  certainly  before  been  unknown  in  the 
world.” 

“ It  has  never  been  more  signally  declared  than  in  recent 
years  in  amended  legislations,  expanded  philanthropies,  widened 
missions.  It  has  made  the  enlightened  and  aspiring  Christen- 
dom of  to-day  the  fact  of  chief  importance,  therefore,  in  the 
progress  of  mankind;  its  true  glory  is  that  it  has  wiped  the 
tears  of  sorrow  from  the  eyes  of  its  disciples  and  has  comforted 
hearts  which  were  desolate  with  grief;  that  it  has  given  celestial 
visions  to  those  who  dwelt  beneath  thatched  roofs  and  has 
taught  a happier  humility  to  the  proud  ; that  it  has  shed  vic- 
torious tranquillity  on  those  who  have  seen  the  shadows  of  death 
closing  around  them,  and  has  caused  to  be  written  over  their 
graves  the  lofty  words  of  promise  and  cheer,  ‘I  am  the  Resur- 
rection and  the  Life.’ 

“This  is  the  diadem  of  this  religion,  sparkling  with  gems 
lucid  and  vivid,  such  as  never  were  set  in  any  philosophic  or 
poetic  crown.  Because  of  these  effects,  and  not  merely  for  its 
influences  upon  cosmical  progress,  men  have  loved  this  religion 
with  a passionate  intensity  beside  which  all  other  enthusiasms 
were  weak.  Because  of  these,  if  for  nothing  else,  it  will  live 
in  the  world  till  human  hearts  have  ceased  to  beat.” 

All  beneficent  conceptions  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and! 
the  brotherhood  of  man  had  their  orjgin  in  the  Christian, 
religion,  and  in  their  hold  upon  man  constitute  a part  of  our  • 
resources. 

The  Christian  conceptions  of  God.  of  man,  of  man’s  duty 
toward  God,  of  man’s  duty  to  man  in  politics  and  society,, 
and  the  duties  of  nations  toward  each  other,  are  the  germs, 
from  which  spring  all  the  beneficent  powers  of  the  highest 
civilization. 

Christianity  improves  man’s  condition  by  regenerating  him, 


10 


and  does  not  seek  to  regenerate  him  by  improving  his  condition. 
It  has  forced  upon  the  mass  of  our  populations  the  sense  of  the 
necessity  of  righteousness  in  the  spirit,  as  the  source  and  the 
safeguard  of  righteousness  in  conduct,  and  has  lifted  into  new 
purity  the  most  depraved,  who  seemed  abandoned  of  God  and 
man. 

When  its  perfect  purposed  supremacy  in  the  world  is  accom- 
plished, there  will  be  societies  and  governments  as  pure  as  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  as  supreme  over  sin  and  evil  as  the 
incarnate  Lord. 

IV.  Voluntary  Support  of  Christian  Institutions. 

While  we  are  a Christian  nation,  absolute  separation  of 
Church  and  State  is  one  of  our  principal  resources  of  strength. 
Voluntary  conditions  have  been  proven  here  to  be  the  best 
promoters  of  a pure  religious  life  among  the  people,  in  that 
Christianity  here  has  made  greater  progress  in  an  equal  period 
than  in  any  other  land  or  age.  Voluntary  Protestantism  is  the 
very  genius  of  republican  government.  Dr.  Dorner,  after 
visiting  this  country  in  1873,  said  : “ Columbus  was  encouraged 
by  the  hope  that  the  new  land  would  serve  the  honor  of  our 
Redeemer.  This  is  not  accomplished  in  the  sense  of  Columbus 
— through  the  conversion  of  the  heathen — but  in  a far  higher 
sense.  The  discovery  of  America  has  a connection  in  time  and 
spirit  with  the  Reformation,  for,  as  it  were,  a new  land  arose 
from  out  the  sea  to  serve  as  a bulwark  and  a reserve  for  the 
Church  of  the  Reformation.  The  Americans  feel  already  that 
they  have  a special  mission  ; namely,  to  march  in  their  fresh, 
earnest  way,  into  the  fight  against  the  skeptical  and  the  su- 
perstitious, at  the  same  time  showing  -Christianity  in  a new 
light,  as  a living  force  which  needs  no  outward  human  aid  in 
order  to  make  itself  respected,  but  which  free  spirits  most 
need.” 

Dr.  Schaff  says  : “ In  the  United  States,  where  all  denomina- 
tions are  equal  before  the  law,  and  stand  on  the  same  voluntary 
footing  of  self-support  and  self-government,  the  Christian  activ- 
ities keep  pace  with  the  enormous  tide  of  immigration  and  the 
intellectual,  social,  and  commercial  growth  of  the  people;  and 
churches,  schools,  colleges,  seminaries,  libraries,  home  and 


11 


foreign  missionary  societies,  and  all  sorts  of  benevolent  institu- 
tions are  there,  by  the  joint  zeal  of  the  different  denominations, 
multiplying  with  a rapidity  that  has  no  parallel  in  the  annals 
of  the  past.” 

V.  Higher  Education. 

The  higher  educational  resources  of  the  country  are  largely 
under  Christian  control.  There  are  370  colleges  and  universi- 
ties in  the  United  States,  with  3,000  professors  instructing 

35.000  students.  About  SO  per  cent,  of  the  students  are  in  de- 
nominational colleges,  and  94  per  cent,  of  the  students  in  de- 
nominational colleges  are  evangelical. 

Institutions  for  higher  education  in  the  United  States,  under 
control  of  evangelical  churches,  have  in  attendance,  so  far  as 
can  be  ascertained  (with  at  least  one  tenth  not  reporting),  over 

58.000  students,  with  property  and  endowment  funds  valued 
at  over  $34,000,000.  It  is  possibly  not  an  extravagant  estimate 
to  put  the  number  of  youth  who  are  students  in  the  advanced 
educational  institutions  of  the  churches  at  175,000. 

There  are  120  theological  seminaries  of  evangelical  churches 
in  the  United  States,  with  4,000  students,  and  the  rate  of  per 
cent,  of  increase  of  students  in  literary  and  theological  insti- 
tutions over  the  increase  of  the  population  is  higher  than  at  any 
period  in  our  history. 

VI.  The  Common  Schools. 

Fenelon  says  : “ Moral  education  is  the  bulwark  of  the  State.” 
The  idea  of  the  common  school  is  traced  to  an  act  of  the  colonial 
legislature  of  Massachusetts  in  1642.  At  first  it  was  a strictly 
Church  school,  in  charge  of  the  minister  of  the  township,  and 
the  children  were  carefull}r  taught  in  the  orthodox  faith.  The 
school-master  was  next  to  the  minister.  The  religious  require- 
ments were  incorporated  in  the  laws.  The  present  and  former 
generations  of  the  population  have  been  educated  in  schools 
that  were  never  merely  secular.  In  fact,  we  have  not  attempted 
purely  secular  education  until  recently,  and  that  only  to  a very 
limited  extent.  While  there  has  been  no  national  system  of 
public  schools  in  the  past,  and  while  uniformity  has  proved  it- 


12 


self  to  be,  perhaps,  both  impracticable  and  undesirable  under  our 
form  of  government,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Christian  senti- 
ment of  the  people  will  see  to  it  that  the  future  develops  no 
purely  secular  system  of  education  for  our  citizenship.  And 
while  the  local-option  plan,  leaving  the  whole  question  of  the 
character  of  the  instruction  to  the  local  school  boards,  to  be  de- 
cided by  them  according  to  the  composition  and  wants  of  the 
community,  is  likely  to  prevail,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
friends  of  Christian  morality  will  come  to  the  defense  of  the 
right  of  the  children  and  youth  to  a kind  of  instruction  that 
recognizes  their  responsibility  and  immortality,  and  reminds 
them  of  the  fact  that  our  institutions  are  the  fruit  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith. 

The  public-school  system,  pressed  into  secular  uniformity, 
cannot  meet  the  moral  needs  of  our  mixed  population,  and  can- 
not meet  the  demands  upon  a Christian  people  or  promote  the 
interests  of  genuine  Christian  morality.  Christianity  must 
solve  the  question  of  the  education  of  the  masses  upon  Christian, 
and  not  upon  secular  grounds. 

We  are  about  convinced  that  the  time  has  come  when  we 
must  demand  that  the  State,  assuming  to  teach  its  citizens  as 
a preparation  for  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship,  must  not 
only  recognize  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  the  people,  in 
comformity  with  historic  and  judicial  precedent,  but  must  re- 
quire the  teaching  of  Christian  morality  wherever  education  is 
supported  by  taxation  or  by  State  grant. 

And  not  only  must  we  insist  upon  the  common  schools  teach- 
ing Christian  morality",  but  when  the  State  (as  with  us)  enters 
upon  the  questionable  work  of  higher  education,  and  seeks  to 
prepare  teachers  for  their  work  in  the  common  or  higher  schools, 
then  we  must  put  the  salt  of  Christian  morality  in  at  these 
fountain-heads  or  make  up  our  minds  to  forfeit  the  respect  both 
of  God  and  of  good  men,  and  invite  a reign  of  irresponsibility 
and  immorality. 

We  are  told  that  history  gnd  precedent  have  nothing  to  do 
with  this  question  in  its  present  demands  for  solution.  As  well 
might  the  individual  say  that  birth  and  educational  opportunity 
have  nothing  to  do  with  determining  present  duty.  We  are 
told  that  we  must  keep  retreating  until  we  reach  tenable 
ground.  This  is  the  cry  of  the  enemies  of  righteous  govern- 


13 


ment  and  of  humanity,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  echoed  by  the 
level's  of  goodness  or  of  God. 

Is  it  not  time  for  the  populations  that  give  character  to  our 
civilization  and  stability  to  our  Government  to  assert  them- 
selves? Is  it  not  time  to  return  to  the  foundation-principles 
upon  which  our  liberties  and  integrity  as  a nation  rest?  Is  it 
not  time  to  banish  this  sickly  sentimentality  that,  under  the 
hypocritical  concession  of  religious  freedom,  retreats  in  the 
presence  of  secularism,  of  Jesuitism,  and  of  atheism  ? 


VII.  The  Christian  Sabbath  as  a Civil  Institution. 

Deluz,  of  Geneva,  says:  “At  the  very  foundation  of  the 
question  of  the  Lord’s  Day,  which  we  seek  to  enforce,  is  noth- 
ing less  than  physical  and  spiritual  health,  family  and  Christian 
life,  national  prosperity,  and  the  advance  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.” 

We  have  the  Sabbath  with  its  sanctions  protected  by  law  in 
almost  all  of  the  States.  The  civil  Sunday  could  not  stand  a 
decade  without  its  Christian  sanction  by  the  consciences  of  the 
God-fearing  whose  power  placed  the  legal  safeguards  on  the 
statute  books. 

It  is  a physical  boon;  it  enhances  social  and  family  life; 
it  saves  many  from  incessant  groveling  in  low  and  depressing 
employment ; it  breaks  in  upon  the  anxious  restless  ambitions 
and  rivalries  of  life ; it  tones  down  distinctions  between  rich 
and  poor,  capitalists  and  laborers;  it  gives  breathing-time 
which,  at  the  least,  may  be  used  aright.  It  is  used  by  multitudes 
as  an  opportunity  for  religious  duties,  where  they  are  met  by 
the  Word  of  God,  believe  and  are  saved.  As  a witness  for 
God,  a memorial  of  bliss  and  a promise  of  enduring  rest  pro- 
vided by  our  loving  heavenly  Father,  the  day  itself  possesses 
power  for  good. 

VIII.  Financial  and  Material. 

It  is  estimated  that  with  our  agricultural,  mining,  and  man- 
ufacturing resources  at  all  adequately  developed  we  can  sustain 
and  enrich  a population  of  1,000,000,000.  Our  present  wealth 
as  a nation  is  estimated  at  over  $50,000,000,000,  constituting 


14 


us,  while  the  youngest,  the  richest  nation  on  the  globe.  At 
least  $10,000,000,000  of  this  wealth  is  in  the  hands  of  members 
of  evangelical  churches. 

Emerson  says:  “We  live  in  a new  and  exceptional  age. 
America  is  another  name  for  opportunity.  Our  whole  history 
appears  like  a last  effort  of  the  Divine  Providence  in  behalf  of 
the  human  race.” 

Providence  has  placed  the  material  as  well  as  the  spiritual 
resources  within  our  grasp,  and  has  promised  to  back  us  with 
omnipotence.  It  is  for  us  to  say  what  shall  be  the  issue  of  the 
experiment. 

Dr.  Strong  says  : “ For  Christians  to  apprehend  their  true  re- 
lation to  money,  and  the  relations  of  money  to  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  and  its  progress  in  the  world,  is  to  find  the  key  to 
many  of  the  great  problems  now  pressing  for  solution.  Money 
is  power  in  the  concrete.  It  commands  learning,  skill,  expe- 
rience, wisdom,  talent,  influence,  numbers.  It  represents  the 
school,  the  college,  the  Church,  the  printing-press,  and  all  evan- 
gelizing machinery.  It  confers  on  the  wise  man  a sort  of 
omnipresence.” 

Dr.  Buslmell  says:  “Talent  has  been  Christianized  already 
on  a large  scale.  The  political  power  of  States  and  king- 
doms has  been  long  assumed  to  be.  Architecture,  arts,  consti- 
tutions, schools  and  learning  have  been  largejy  Christianized. 
But  the  money  power,  which  is  one  of  the  most  operative  and 
grandest'of  all,  is  only  beginning  to  be;  though  with  promising 
tokens  of  a finally  complete  reduction  to  Christ  and  the  uses  of 
his  kingdom.  That  day,  when  it  comes,  is  the  morning,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  new  creation.” 

No  man  has  been  authorized  by  the  Master  to  dictate  to  man 
the  measure  of  his  capacity  to  give  money.  The  basis  of 
Christ’s  judgment  of  man’s  stewardship  is  not  what  a man  gives, 
but  what  he  withholds.  An  enlightened  mind,  a cultured  con- 
science, and  a sanctified  heart,  can  only  determine  the  extent 
of  the  Christianized  moneyed  resources  of  our  country. 

The  consciousness  of  stewardship  in  the  use  of  money  was 
never  either  relatively  or  actually  so  general  as  now,  implying 
a rising  tide  that  hastens  on  to  flood  ; proving  the  potency  of 
Christian  love  in  human  hearts  to  conquer  selfishness  and  to 
create  a spirit  of  sacrifice. 


15 


IX.  Numerical  Evangelical  Strength. 

The  evangelical  churches  number  112,714,  with  83,854 
ministers  and  12,132,051  communicants.  Multiply  this 
number  of  communicants  by  3],  tbe  lowest  multiple  used  by 
discreet  statisticians,  to  get  the  number  of  adherents  of  evan- 
gelical Christianity  in  our  country,  and  we  have  42,404.278. 
These  churches  have  accommodations  for  25,000,000  people, 
with  a property  valuation  of  $600,000,000. 


X.  Roman  Catholicism. 

This  is  an  Evangelical  Alliance,  but  in  estimating  tbe  Chris- 
tian resources  of  our  country  we  cannot  in  justice  ignore  the 
Latin  or  Roman  Church.  It  has  vitality  in  so  far  only  as  it  is 
Christian.  And  this  is  equally  true  of  Protestantism.  Its 
wholesome  restraints  upon  ignorant  multitudes,  its  benevo- 
lences, its  ministrations  to  the  sick,  afflicted  and  poor,  and  its 
care  for  neglected  childhood  are  all  commendable.  It  lias 
already  in  multitudes  of  its  membership  and  adherents  yielded 
to  the  molding  influences  of  the  public  schools,  and  to  the 
transforming  power  of  republican  institutions. 

It  is  far  better  for  its  adherents  to  be  under  its  influence  than 
to  be  unchurched  and  unbelieving.  Say  what  we  may  con- 
cerning its  defects,  deplore  its  corruptions  and  traditions  of 
men  and  its  political  power,  yet  multitudes  of  those  who  bow 
at  its  altars  are  there  because  they  are  feeling  after  the  Christ ; 
and  can  we  doubt  that  he  emerges  from  the  mummeries  and, 
putting  aside  the  intervening  priest,  touches  the  bruised  souls 
and  feeds  tbe  hungry  hearts  ? 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  in  our  country  154  hos- 
pitals with  30,000  inmates;  320  asylums  with  40,000  inmates; 
it  cares  for  20,000  orphans ; it  has  124  Jesuit  and  other  col- 
leges and  institutions  of  high  grade  with  19,000  students  ; it 
has  577,000  students  of  all  classes  under  its  instruction,  and  its 
church  buildings  and  other  edifices  number  about  4,000,  with 
a church  seating  capacity  of  3,000,000. 

It  claims  as  members  and  adherents  7,000,000  of  our  popu- 
lation, and  it  has  property  valued  at  $70,000,000. 


16 


XI.  Missions. 

The  demands  for  Christian  work  of  our  extended  domain  and 
the  composite  character  of  our  population  have  so  broadened 
our  scope  that  our  people  are  more  and  more  realizing  their 
obligations  to  send  the  Gospel  to  all  the  foreign  nations  that 
contribute  to  our  population.  And  every  dollar,  and  Bible, 
and  missionary  we  send  abroad,  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
law,  increases  the  wealth  of 'the  remaining  resources.  The 
invoice  of  our  Christian  resources  in  organized  form  can  only 
be  approximately  tabulated.  Local,  national  and  denomina- 
tional societies  for  home,  city  and  foreign  missions,  for  the  pub- 
lishing and  distributing  of  tracts  and  Bibles,  for  promoting 
Sunday-schools,  for  advancing  temperance  and  education,  for 
providing  outlets  for  all  conceivable  forms  of  benevolence, 
utilizing  a mighty  host  of  workers — of  these  the  onl}r  accurate 
record  is  kept  on  high. 

The  foreign  missionary  societies  of  the  evangelical  churches 
have  in  the  field  2,500  missionaries;  the  laborers  of  all  classes 
number  over  13,000;  the  communicants,  332,000;  mission 
scholars  in  their  schools,  152,000  ; and  they  now  contribute 
about  $3,000,000  annually  for  their  support. 

About  $4,000,000  annually  are  contributed  for  home  mis- 
sions. This  is  an  inadequate  representation,  because  it  does 
not  include  the  uninvoiced  amounts  given  by  local  home  mis- 
sionary organizations,  and  individual  church  efforts  in  the  cities 
and  centers  'of  population. 

The  steady  movement  upward  in  benevolence  places 
momentum  in  the  invoice  of  our  resources.  In  1850  the 
receipts  for  home  and  foreign  missions  were  $1,232,000.  In 
1886,  $7,000,000 ; an  increase  calling  for  gratitude,  but  not 
for  special  congratulation,  and  certainly  not  for  boasting,  when 
we  consider  the  undoubted  fact  that  about  $10,000,000,000  of 
the  wealth  of  the  country  is  in  the  hands  of  members  of  evan- 
gelical churches.  It  must  be  in  justice,  however,  remembered 
that  a multitude  of  these  church  members  are  the  subjects  of 
missionary  benefactions,  and  the  limited  number  who  do 
give  are  also  contributors  to  all  other  benevolent  and  philan- 
thropic causes. 


17 


XII.  The  Utilized  Energies  of  Womanhood. 

The  broadest  opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  the  gifts  and 
graces  of  Christian  womanhtnd  constitute  one  of  our  mightiest 
modern  resources  of  strength.  The  mourners  and  comforters 
of  the  race,  as  women  have  always  been,  making  up  two  thirds 
of  the  membership  of  the  Christian  Church,  they  were  the  last 
faithful  friends  of  the  Nazarene  at  Calvary  and  the  first 
preachers  of  his  resurrection,  hi  leading  souls  to  Christ,  in 
self-sacrificing  ministrations  to  the  diseased,  the  poor  and  the 
sorrow-stricken,  in  mission  fields,  in  molding  the  character  of 
youth,  in  temperance,  and  in  all  reforms  based  on  the  well- 
being of  man,  and  in  mitigating  the  horrors  of  war,  genuine 
Christian  womanhood  is  exalting  the  gospel  ideal  of  steward- 
ship, and  that  without  unscxing  herself  or  trenching  upon  the 
well-defined  scriptural  prerogatives  of  man.  Aside  from  the 
multiform  works  of  Christian  women  in  home  directions, 
women’s  foreign  missionary  boards  are  now  supporting 
about  1,000  missionaries  and  teaching  about  20,000  pupils,  and 
ministering  to  a great  multitude  of  sick  and  distressed,  in 
heathen  lands. 

XIII.  Race. 

Christianized  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  with  its  love  of  liberty,  its 
thrift,  its  intense  and  persistent  energy,  and  personal  independ- 
ence, is  the  regnant  force  in  this  country;  and  that  is  a most 
pregnant  fact,  because  the  concededly  most  important  lesson 
in  the  history  of  modern  civilization  is,  that  God  is  using  the 
Anglo-Saxon  to  conquer  the  world  for  Christ  by  dispossessing 
feebler  races  and  assimilating  and  molding  others. 

Dr.  N.  G.  Clark  says : “ The  English  language,  saturated 
with  Christian  ideas,  gathering  up  into  itself  the  best  thought 
of  all  the  ages,  is  the  great  agent  of  Christian  civilization 
throughout  the  world,  at  this  moment,  affecting  the  destinies 
and  molding  the  character  of  half  the  human  race.” 

In  our  country,  the  ends  of  the  earth,  with  all  forms  of  civil- 
ization, come  to  us,  and  this  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  baptized  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  can  impart  its  own  virtue  to  the  amalgam, 
producing  “ a more  powerful  type  of  man  than  has  hitherto  ex- 
isted, a civilization  grander  than  any  the  world  has  known,” 


18 


and  that,  not  as  the  result  of  conquest  by  wars,  but  conquest 
by  assimilation. 

XIV.  The  Freedom  of  the  Press. 

Evangelical  Christianity  must  gladly  accept  and  utilize  the 
irrepressible  publicity  of  the  nineteenth  century,  never  reviling 
nor  restricting  the  liberty”  of  the  press,  except  when  it  com- 
mits offenses  against  natural  rights.  It  is  one  of  our  principal 
sources  of  power.  The  right  solution  of  social  and  political 
questions  closely  connected  with  Christianity  necessitates  that 
every  voice  should  be  heard  save  that  of  open  and  criminal  re- 
volt. Repression  would  retard  solutions. 

De  Pressense  says : “ Perfect  liberty  of  thought  is  of  the 
first  necessity,  not  only  for  what  is  good  and  true,  but  for  that 
which  is  false  and  bad.”  Jeremiah  records  for  God : “ The 
prophet  that  hath  a dream,  let  him  tell  a dream  : and  he  that 
hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is 
the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord.” 

Error  refutes  itself  in  the  act  of  showing  itself.  A hidden 
evil  is  the  only  incurable  one. 

Milton  said:  “Though  all  the  winds  of  doctrine  were  let 
loose  upon  the  earth,  so  truth  be  among  them  we  need  not  fear. 
Let  her  and  falsehood  grapple;  who  ever  knew  her  to  be  put 
to  the  worst  in  a free  and  open  encounter?” 

The  religious  press,  and  very  much  of  the  work  of  the  secu- 
lar press,  in  furnishing  religious  intelligence  and  in  the  discus- 
sion of  public  questions  from  the  Christian  stand-point,  as  many, 
if  not  most  of  them,  do,  a9  educators  of  the  public  conscience, 
are  among  the  most  'powerful  agencies  for  Christian  civil- 
ization. 

There  are  published  in  the  United  States  nearly  15,000 
newspapers  and  periodicals,  about  9,000  being  published 
weekly.  The  entire  circulation  would  probably  reach  25,000,000 
of  copies,  while  the  entire  number  of  copies  would  exceed  in  a 
single  year  2,000,000,000. 

Of  religious  newspapers  and  periodicals  there  are  about  700, 
circulating  more  than  120,000,000  of  copies  annually. 

The  relative  increase  in  the  circulation  of  the  religious  press 
is  in  advance  of  the  secular  press. 


19 


The  receipts  of  the  religious  publication  houses  of  the  evan- 
gelical churches  have  reached  an  annual  average  of  $5,000,000. 


XV.  Latent  Powers. 

* Among  our  resources  we  must  count  the  latent  power  in  the 
individual  Christian  lives,  which  is  mightier  than  the  developed 
and  revealed.  This  is  also  true  of  the  latent  power  in  num- 
bers and  in  capacity  for  work  in  our  churches,  and  in  the  latent 
financial  resources  of  our  membership.  Let  the  nominally 
Christian  people  of  this  country  go  to  praying,  and  then  go  to 
living  and  acting  in  accordance  with  their  prayers,  provided 
only  they  close  their  praying  with  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  and  this 
nominally  Christian  nation  would  speedily  become  actually 
Christian,  and  instead  of  assembling  to  determine  how  best  to 
defeat  the  devil,  we  should  soon  assemble  to  welcome  the  de- 
scending Lord  back  to  a world  that  crucified  him,  but  now 
made  ready  to  crown  him. 

Pentecostal  blessing  would  liberate  all  these  latent  energies. 
When  shall  these  dry  bones  live  and  move? 

XVI.  The  Divine  Promises. 

The  Christian  resources  of  our  country  are  made  up  of  the 
invoice  of  all  of  Christ's  possessions  in  this  goodly  land,  and 
of  all  of  Christ’s  promises.  “The  kingdoms  of  this  world” 
are  his.  “All  power  is  given  unto”  him  “in  heaven  and  in 
earth;”  but  the  question  is,  How  much  does  man,  the  steward, 
concede  to  Christ,  the  Master  and  proprietor?  We  must  not 
forget  that  we  are  to  act  as  though  we  believed  the  fact  that 
all  our  resources  are  essentially  Christian.  They  belong  to 
God,  whether  we  admit  it  or  not. 

“ This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our 
faith.”  “All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  belie  veth.”  “If 
God  be  for  us  who  can  be  against  us  ? ” “ How  shall  he  not 

with  him  freely  give  us  ail  things?”  Inspiration  perfectly 
answers  its  own  question. 

“For  all  things  are  yours;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or 
things  to  come  ; all  are  yours ; and  ye  are  Christ’s ; and  Christ 


20 


is  God’s.”  No  wonder  the  Apostle  cries  out  in  holy  triumph 
in  the  face  of  foes,  “ I can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which 
strengthened!  me.” 

Ilis  abiding  presence  inspires  us;  the  memory  of  his  past 
dealings  impels  us  ; the  promise  of  his  coming  draws  us.  W e are 
encompassed  about  with  omnipotence.  Let  individual  Chris* 
tians  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  not  inquiring  of  one  another 
whence  we  came,  and  how  we  are  called,  but  rather  what  we 
desire  and  whither  we  are  tending.  Our  symbol  a Cross,  stand- 
ing luminous  by  the  side  of  an  empty  grave.  Hoc  signo 
vinces. 

“ Thanks  be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.”  When  these  truths  become  the  common 
experience  of  individual  Christians  the  millennial  light  will 
burst  over  the  mountains. 

XVII.  The  Power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

“When  Jesus  ascended  up  on  high  and  led  captivity  cap- 
tive,” he  “ gave  gifts  unto  men.”  “ When  the  Comforter  is  come, 
whom  I will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  he  shall  testify  of 
me,  and  ye  also  shall  bear  witness.”  “Ye  also.”  The  Iloly 
Spirit  is  not  our  accompaniment;  we  are  his. 

The  office-work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  more  intelligently  and 
more  extensively  recognized  in  religious  effort,  as  the  sole  de- 
pendence of  the  Church  for  effective  work,  than  has  been  the 
case  in  centuries.  This  has  given  tone  and  character  and  po- 
tency to  religious  experience,  and  heroism  and  endurance  to 
religious  zeal.  It  has  inspired  the  thought  and  experience 
of  the  priesthood  of  believers  with  its  personal  dignity  and 
personal  responsibility,  taught  by  evangelical  Protestantism, 
and  has  expanded  it  into  spiritual  and  practical  results,  with 
the  higest  type  of  piety  and  personal  godliness  yet  attained  by 
relatively  large  numbers  in  any  age.  It  has  inspired  this  con- 
ference, with  the  universal  approval  of  good  men,  of  all  vari- 
eties of  evangelical  thought  of  the  new  plans  and  purposes  for 
utilizing  dormant  Christian  energies,  and  Christianizing  the 
thoughtless  and  neglected,  and  for  massing  the  forces  of  right- 
cousness. 

Resources  of  history,  character,  money,  machinery,  educa- 


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tion,  numbers,  the  press,  a chosen  race,  and  the  divine  prom- 
ises, are  all  necessary  instruments,  hut  they  are  strengthless 
and  useless  for  good,  either  singly  or  in  combination,  until 
baptized  by  the  Holy  Spirit ; then,  singly,  they  take  on 
strength,  and,  massed,  they  become  as  omnipotent  as  God. 
These  human  appliances,  wielded  by  the  Iloly  Spirit  sent  by 
Christ,  shall  become  like  him,  sweet  in  sympathy,  pure  in 
holiness,  vital  with  love.  If  from  this  time  forth  in  this  capi- 
tal city,  where  is  located  the  fountain  of  our  country’s  law  and 
the  throne  of  our  nation’s  power,  if  in  this  favored  land  the 
saved  sons  of  men  would  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God  ; it 
all  the  daughters  of  Zion  would  clothe  themselves  with  the 
beautiful  garments  of  salvation,  and,  baptized  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  would  move  together  for  the  renovation  of  a heritage 
once  uncursed  with  sin,  no  pen  or  pencil  could  picture  the 
result.  Godless  temples  would  tumble,  incense  burning  to 
unknown  gods  would  be  quenched ; air  polluted  with  blas- 
phemy would  be  purified  ; ignorance  would  flee  away  ; the 
floodgates  of  intemperance  would  be  closed ; the  fires  of  pas- 
sion would  be  quenched,  and  fountains  of  bitter  tears  would 
be  dried  up.  Every  hill-top  would  glimmer  with  the  light  of 
truth  and  every  valley  show  the  temple  of  our  God. 

“ In  the  wilderness  would  waters  break  out,  and  streams  in 
the  desert,  and  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  would  come  to  Zion 
with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  head,  and  sorrow 
and  sighing  would  flee  away.” 

“Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  hearts  inspire; 

Let  ns  thine  influence  prove; 

Source  of  the  old  prophetic  fire, 

Fountain  of  life  and  love.” 

In  our  centennial  year  the  French  people  proposed  to 
place,  and  have  since  placed,  at  the  gateway  of  our  commerce, 
upon  an  island  in  New  York  Harbor,  a bronze  statue  of  lib- 
erty more  than  a hundred  feet  in  height,  standing  upon  a 
pedestal  of  the  same  elevation.  This  majestic  statue  towers 
by  day  against  the  sky,  while  by  night  streams  of  light 
radiate  from  the  head.  It  is  the  first  object  seen  by  those 
who  come  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  as  they  approach  our 
coasts  from  every  clime,  telling  them  the  story  of  our  free 


22 


institutions.  Let  us  pray  that  Jesus,  the  great  Liberator  of 
our  race,  may  so  get  the  mastery  in  this  nation  that  the 
immigrant  coming  to  our  shores  and  entering  the  gateway  of 
our  liberties  shall  find  his  eyes  looking  first  upon  works  of 
righteousness ; and  that  the  first  sound  that  greets  his  ears 
shall  be  a voice  crying,  “Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.”  Then  shall  we  not  only  rejoice 
in  the  centennial  of  our  national  liberties,  but  in  the  millennium 
of  Gospel  liberty. 


